Not on Twitter? You’re about to get scolded

Journalist, social media expert and frequent B/R Blog quotee Steve Buttry spoke recently at a journalism conference in Gettysburg, Pa., and he posted the text of his remarks about how journalism can long endure, calling it “My Gettysburg Oration.”

It won’t make anyone forget Lincoln, even with the reference I repeated above, but it’s worth a read for those of us in the typing racket.

I want to focus on just one of Buttry’s 10 points, which he organized around 10 tweets. It’s about Twitter:

I have to be honest. Whenever I look for the Twitter account of a Bleacher Report writer or editor and I’m not able to find it, I’m a little stunned. I wonder, how can you be involved in any type of journalism, even as a hobby, without being on the social media network?

Buttry says something similar, scolding those who have ignored Twitter.

I’m talking here especially to top newsroom editors, though much of what I say will apply to any journalist. If you’re not using Twitter yet, you need to start now. You’re only something like four years late. Twitter is the most useful tool introduced to journalism during my career, with the possible exception of the cellphone, but since you use Twitter on your phone, each makes the other more valuable.

If you don’t use Twitter to cover breaking news, you’re missing out on eyewitnesses to news events. You’re missing your chance to tell the story as it unfolds, reaching many who never pick up a newspaper. If Twitter isn’t part of your daily routine, you’re blowing a chance to eavesdrop on the community conversation. And you’re telling your staff that it’s OK to be left behind. It’s not OK to be left behind. It’s too late for you to be a Twitter pioneer. But it’s not too late to lead your staff in catching up and to change your newsroom’s culture.

And it’s not too late to get started on Twitter and use this valuable tool to make your coverage better and build your brand.

I am a Twitter fiend. Mainly I use my account to follow news on my favorite sports teams, athletes, local and national news coverage as well as entertainment.

I have my Twitter account set up so that I receive news from certain accounts I follow directly sent to my Windows Phone–regardless of the time difference I never miss a Chelsea match.

Twitter has been a valuable tool for me to not only keep up to date on the latest news but also connect with people in the twitterverse.

Our college newspaper made it a requirement to set up an account and to plug our stories there.

All major news sources have an account. Aspiring writers, such as us BR Young Guns, should take advantage of what Twitter has to offer.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Tom-Firme/1066636105 Tom Firme

I just remembered to post a link to my Twitter page on my B/R profile page, a few weeks after starting my account. I never thought I needed an account until the end of April. I just figured I could follow people on Twitter without having an account. I’ll admit that Twitter helps. The main use for me has been finding breaking news on Twitter.